TITUSVILLE, Fla. – A man who Titusville police said violently attacked a hotel staff worker and attempted to sexually assault her was taken into custody Monday after eluding police for about four hours, News 6 partner Florida Today reported.
A woman working at the Quality Inn at 3655 Cheney Highway in Titusville entered a room at the hotel about noon Monday to clean it when she encountered a man who was not a guest, police said.
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The man, later identified as Diderot Suffrena, 36, of Apopka, attacked the woman, punching and strangling her while attempting to sexually assault her, police said.
The woman was able to escape after fighting off the man, and ran to get help, officials said. She was taken to a hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Suffrena, meanwhile, fled in a black Mercedes-Benz, police said.
About four hours after the attack, Brevard County deputies stopped a vehicle with a matching tag on Ember Avenue in Cocoa. Surveillance footage from the hotel and the woman positively identified the man in the vehicle as the attacker, according to police.
"This was a horrific, violent attack," Deputy Chief Todd Hutchinson said in a news release. "Our investigators will be vigorously retracing his previous activity as they are deeply concerned about the level of violence by this suspect."
Suffrena was booked into the Brevard County Jail on charges of sexual battery, aggravated battery with strangulation and occupied burglary. He is being held without bond.